1. U.S. Stock Market:
“U.S. stock futures posted mild gains in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, ahead of a heavy week on the data front including consumer-confidence and nonfarm-payrolls numbers. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMM7, +0.05% added 8 points to 21,074 while those for the S&P 500 index ESM7, +0.06% gained 1.70 points, or 0.1%, to 2,415.50. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index NQM7, +0.07% rose 7 points, or 0.1%, to 5,799. 25. The bourses won’t open for ordinary trade later on Monday, as financial markets in the U.S. are closed for the Memorial Day holiday. U.K. and Chinese markets are also off for a holiday.”
2. U.S. Bond Market:
“The 10-year U.S Treasury yield stood at 2.25 percent, while 5-year yield was at 1.791 percent. The Australian bonds sunk on the first trading day of the week as investors cashed in profits, following a silent trading session that witnessed data of less economic significance. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note jumped 2 basis points to 2.44 percent, the yield on the 15-year note climbed nearly 1-1/2 basis points to 2.83 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 2 basis points higher at 1.60 percent.”
Copyright: alexeyboldin / 123RF Stock Photo
3. FX Markets:
“The dollar was little changed against a basket of the other major currencies on Monday, holding above last week’s six-and-a-half month lows with U.S. financial markets closed for the Memorial Day holiday. The dollar was steady against the safe haven yen, with USD/JPY at 111.31. The euro was a touch lower, with EUR/USD dipping to 1.1169 after setting a six-and-a-half month high of 1.1267 last week. Meanwhile, sterling pushed higher, with GBP/USD adding 0.27% to 1.2833, recovering from the three-week low of 1.2774 hit on Friday.”
“The pound moved firmly higher on Monday, rebounding after its worst loss in four months logged last week on concerns that the upcoming general election in the U.K. will be tighter than most people expected. Sterling GBPUSD, +0.3202% bought $1.2825, compared with $1.2803 late Friday in New York. Friday’s slide marked the worst one-day percentage loss for the pound since January 18, according to FactSet data. Earlier last week, the U.K. currency had traded firmly above $1.30, but a surprise downward revision to the country’s gross domestic product number and the latest opinion polls for next week’s vote zapped investor confidence in the pound.”
“The euro was flat against the dollar Monday as Mario Draghi gave no indication of any change to ECB’s forward guidance. The euro was off 0.06% at 09:45 ET at $1.1174 after a low of $1.1162 and a high of $1.1190. Downside risks to the euro-zone economic outlook have eased further, Draghi said in prepared remarks to the European Parliament. He pointed to euro-zone GDP growth of 1.7% in the first quarter and unemployment falling to lowest level since 2009.”
4. Commodities:
“Oil prices were flat on Monday but remained on an unstable footing as increases in U.S. drilling activity undercut an OPEC-led push to tighten supply. Trading was subdued due to public holidays in China, the United States and Britain, but the market remains unsettled because of uncertainty over whether the impact of OPEC’s latest action to curb oversupply would be enough to support prices. Brent crude futures were trading 5 cents higher at $52.20 per barrel at 1311 GMT. The contract ended the previous week down nearly 3 percent. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were 4 cents higher at $49.84 per barrel.”
(Reuters)
“Silver prices traded near monthly highs on Monday, as demand for precious metals held firm on Memorial Day. July silver futures edged up 4 cents, or 0.2%, to $17.36 a troy ounce at 7:32 a.m. ET. The futures price hovered within a narrow range of $17.33 and $17.39 overnight. Silver is coming off its third straight weekly advance, with prices reaching the highest level since April 26. The grey metal has gained a solid 8% since May 9, which was its lowest settlement of the year. Gold futures were little changed on Monday, with the August futures contract holding at $1,269.90 a troy ounce.”
“Gold prices were little changed near a four-week high in North American hours on Monday, with holidays in the U.S., U.K. and China slowing trading activity around the world. Comex gold futures shed $1.40, or about 0.1%, to $1,266.69 a troy ounce by 8:15AM ET (1215GMT). Meanwhile, spot gold was at $1,266.91. Prices of the yellow metal ended Friday’s session up almost 1%, after touching its strongest since May 1 at $1,269.30.”
5. Interesting Tech Reads
“Who wants an 18-core, 36-thread desktop processor? Well, this could be on the cards in the near future as the latest rumor points at Intel not stopping at just a measly 12-cores with its imminent launch of its X299 platform and Skylake-X processors. Instead, there could be 14-core, 16-core and even 18-core processors that sit above what we’ve already seen in unofficial data. This summer was already heating up at the high end of the desktop processor market with AMD and Intel already doing battle with Ryzen versus Intel’s X99 platform. Then we had the announcement of AMD’s Threadripper processors – a range of 10,12, 14 and 16-core desktop processors and next month I expect Intel to release its anticipated X299 platform with up to 12-core processors. Now, it seems, Intel is planning a far more potent line-up of processors, and that 18-core part obviously pips AMD to the top spot in terms of cores and threads, with Threadripper slated to max-out at 16-cores.”
(Forbes)
“Since many phone companies started making smartphones with non-removable batteries, finding the 7 best Android phones with removable batteries in 2017 wasn’t easy. But, we hope we will ease your research with our list and maybe help you decide which one to purchase. We are spending many hours on our smartphone chatting, playing games or searching on the internet, and that’s why it is very important that the battery on our phone has a long duration. Since one of the biggest smartphone giants started producing smartphones with non-removable batteries, the smaller ones didn’t have any other choice but to follow their steps which is the main reason why almost every new smartphone is with a non-removable battery. “
“Google has launched a new feature that could make its search box even more popular than it already is. The company has added a new Personal tab to its search page, which is designed to make it easier for you to track down your own content. Personal is only available when you’re logged in to your Google account, and results are taken from other Google services, like Gmail and Google Photos. If you search for “London”, for instance, Google will show you its regular list of relevant links. At the top of the results page, you can select Maps, News, Images or Video results too. Immediately to the right of these options is More, which is where the Personal tab lives.”
“My heart skips a beat as I watch $3,500 worth of tech hit the ground with a bang. I’m inside the test labs at Osterhout Design Group (ODG) in San Francisco, California, watching how engineers torture test the company’s R-7 HazLoc smart glasses. ODG’s glasses are used in dangerous workplaces like oil rigs, manufacturing facilities and even government. Think those three-letter agencies and you’re on the right track. The R-7HL is a wearable pair of smart glasses built to survive the toughest treatment. Apart from offering regular eye protection, the glasses meet many of the Military Standard 810G specifications.”
(CNET)
“Up to 36.5 million Android users may have been hit by malware that produced fake ad clicks and lined the pockets of its developers. As outlined by security firm Check Point, 41 apps developed by Korea-based Kiniwini and published under the moniker ENISTUDIO Corp., “infected devices to generate large amounts of fraudulent clicks on advertisements, generating revenues for the perpetrators behind it.” It’s “possibly the largest malware campaign found on Google Play,” according to Check Point.”
(PC Mag)
“After the UK Prime Minister Theresa May secured a joint statement from the G7 on Friday, backing a call for social media firms to do more to combat online extremism, a Conservative minister has suggested the party is open to bringing in financial penalties or otherwise changing the law in order to encourage more action on problem content from tech companies if it’s returned to government at the UK general election on June 8. The Guardian reports the comments by security minister, Ben Wallace, speaking to BBC Radio 4 on Sunday. Wallace’s words follow an exposé by the newspaper of Facebook’s moderation guidelines — which the minister dubbed “totally unacceptable”, citing an example of Facebook’s moderator guidance saying it’s “OK to publish abuse of under-seven-year-old children from bullying as long as it doesn’t have captions alongside”. Facebook’s rules have also been criticized by child safety charities.”
“Several iPhone 8 related leaks surfaced over the weekend, backing up a radical new chassis design first seen in April. The new schematics include the various characteristics we’ve seen reported for the OLED iPhone in the past including the elongated power button, vertical dual camera and lack of a physical home button. Most notably, an orange outline traces the purported screen area of the iPhone 8. Based on this schematic, the screen will be effectively bezel-less on left, right and bottom sides whilst the top edge will cut inwards to accommodate the front camera, earpiece and sensors. More pictures after the jump … A cut-out of this fashion would breakaway from the typical rectangular screen panels we’ve seen in smartphones to date. If this design is accurate, Apple is maximizing the screen canvas area as much as possible apart from the lip in which the 3D depth-sensing front camera and earpiece are located.”
(9To5Mac)
“ARM has unveiled a set of new processors to provide the brainpower for our mobile devices to cope with advanced artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) technologies. On Monday, the British semiconductor giant said the new Cortex-A75 and Cortex-A55 processors, alongside the new Mali-G72 graphics processor, have been designed to “address the changing nature of computers driven by AI and other more human-like experiences.” “Distributed intelligence” is at the heart of this trend, which includes connecting AI and the cloud, on-device learning, enhanced security and privacy, and the use of 4K, HDR, and 5G for more “human-like” interfaces.”
(ZDNet)
“There is a hotly-contested, fast-paced race to roll out new car technologies, and the 6 car brands that will capture the future are in the lead in that race. Nowadays, it seems like there’s no industry that Silicon Valley can’t disrupt, and that trend extends prominently to the automobile industry. Among the new technologies being developed for the cars of the future are artificial intelligence (AI), internet connections for vehicles, and anti-crash safety systems. However, the pinnacle of automotive technology, and the end goal of almost every major car maker is the development of a self-driving car. And that’s where Detroit (and Tokyo, and other global hubs of car making) and the Valley are in collaboration or competition (sometimes simultaneously) as they race to be the first to offer a top-quality autonomous vehicle.”
“Last week in Shanghai, away from the very scrutinizing eyes of Western media, Microsoft unveiled the New Surface Pro, a.k.a. not the Surface Pro 5. Reception has been mixed, ranging from “this should have been called the Surface Pro 5” to “meh”. Fortunately, Microsoft’s “tablet that can replace your laptop” is no longer the only game in town. In fact, there’s quite a few of them right now. We take a long at some of the most recent and most enticing 2-in-1 options so far this year to see which one might be the best for your mobile Windows 10 needs.”
“Few people on earth are as successful as Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO has grown his social network from a Harvard dorm room to nearly 2 billion users over a period of 13 years. With a stated mission to connect the world, Facebook is now working on drones and other methods of bringing internet access to unreached parts of the globe. Zuckerberg has complete control over Facebook’s future, thanks to his majority voting rights. And with a net worth of roughly $63 billion, 33-year-0ld. Zuckerberg has joined the ranks of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet as one of the richest people on earth.”
“It’s tricky to test self-driving cars. Even if you have hundreds of thousands of miles under your belt, it’s still difficult to account for every possible real-world peril. Researchers think they can fast-track that experience, however. They’ve developed a sped-up testing process that should accomplish a lot in just a small amount of time. Instead of a holistic approach that gauges everything at once (and often goes for miles without a meaningful event), the new method breaks things down into individual components you can test frequently and repeatedly in simulations.”
(Engadget)
